Knowledge Resources

This study was conducted in September of 2000 to evaluate the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) E-ZPass electronic toll collection system. The study consisted of an extensive data collection effort that involved measuring traffic counts, queue lengths, lane configurations, and transaction times during peak periods at 27 toll locations. Field observations were collected at each toll station during peak periods and the results were evaluated against NJTA toll collection records. The peak period data was entered into a TOLLSIM micro-simulation model in order to generate 24-hour profiles representative of total queue length and average vehicle-class delay before and after E-ZPass deployment at each station. Emission factors such as vehicle type, average vehicle approach speed, acceleration and deceleration rates, and length of time in queue were used to evaluate system-wide air-quality impacts.

Based on weekday turnpike traffic conditions the following estimates were given:

• Toll plaza delay was reduced by approximately 85 percent for a total savings of 2,091,000 vehicle-hours per year.
• Passenger car delay was reduced by 1.8 million hours per year.
• Truck delay was reduced by 291,000 hours per year.
• E-ZPass user delay was reduced by 1,344,000 hours per year.